Team Herald
PONDA: MGP backed Councillor Ameena Naik was elected as the deputy chairperson of Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), on Friday.
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The election which was held through ballot paper saw Ameena winning by eight votes against BJP backed candidate Ananad Naik, who got seven votes.
The post was fallen vacant after resignation of BJP backed deputy chairperson Vishwanath Dalvi, who is recently elected to chairperson. Thus the chairperson post is with BJP and now MGP managed to retain the post of deputy chairperson in the 15-member council.
Though, the PMC election is not on party line it gained importance due to strained relation between MGP and BJP after MGP leader and former PWD minister Sudin Dhavalikar was sacked from the Cabinet. Both MGP and BJP are trying to get hold of the PMC for political supremacy.
The defeat was unexpected for BJP having majority of eight councillors while MGP having seven councillors, while at the same time MGP which was expected to lose the battle by margin of one vote surprised to see its candidate won the battle by lead of one vote which might be due to cross voting from the BJP side.
Few days ago, the election for the post of chairperson was held and BJP backed councillor Vishwanath Dalvi was elected unopposed. This happened, after three Congress-backed councillors including Ritesh Naik had joined BJP taking BJP total from five to eight, while MGP having seven councillors one short of majority and so it was expected that BJP backed candidate having majority in the council would easily elected to the deputy post.
